taken from 2/23/00 AP. The Russian government owes billions of dollars, refuses to pay back billions of dollars and wants to borrow billions of dollars more. Its reputation has yet to recover from the country's disasterous 1998 default on about two-thirds of the 150 billion debt it owes foreign lenders. Yet Russia desperately needs help from just those lenders: it still has massive debts and argues that it doesn't have enough money to pay them. On Feb. 11, the Londan Club, a group of banks and commercial creditors - agreed to scrub about a third of the $31.8 billion in Soviet-era debt Russia owes. The group gave Moscow a seven-year break before it must resume payments on the rest, which will be convertred into long-term Eurobonds. It was a good deal for the Lonon Club because the loans had become all but worthless. There is no guarantee that in seven years Russia will have the money to start paying off the remaining debt as promised. Finance Minister Mikhail Kasyanov has said he will seek a similar write-off from the Paris Club, made of lender states. Germany, which owns about half of the $42 Billion in Paris club debt has said it will not agree to a write-off. Kasyanov has said he wants to bring Russia's annual debt payments to around $11.5 billion in the next few years. If the economy continues its modest growth, it seems that the government could maintain that level. Russia's growth may be fleeting, fueled by high oil prices and the devaluation of the ruble, which has made domestically produced goods more competetive with epensive imports. And despite Kasyanov's talk, Russia is still taking on new loans from the World Bank and Japan, and is hoping the IMF will resume a $4.5 billion loan deal.

-- JOHN (LITTMANNJ@AOL.COM), February 23, 2000

Answers

Oh pluhleeese. they are spending kazillions on arms build up, the war in Chechnya, and God knows what else we aren't being told about.

-- Is (the@west.blind???!), February 23, 2000.

If they have enough money to build nukes then they already have too much.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), February 23, 2000.

Claiming poverty...and threatening thermonuclear war!

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), February 23, 2000.

Let them bite the bullit! Screw them!

-- ... (...@...com), February 23, 2000.

The right Attitude,now if we can apply that thinking to the case of the 6-8 Billion US Tax Dollars,being stolen by Israel every Year,our Oil Prices might even moderate.

-- Watching!!! (sing@lot.along), February 24, 2000.

What idiots lent to them in the first place, presumably the tax payer has footed the bill.

-- Sir Richard (richard.dale@unum.co.uk), February 24, 2000.

The Reagan spending war continues. They beg, we give so it can be siphoned off by THEIR powers to be and spent on elaborate vacations and junkets here and there etc, etc, etc.

As I've said before, they've got us exactly where they want us. Anybody who mentions war is a fool. If you're a dignitary in Russia and you got your Mercedes, comfy living and unlimited travel expenses, he's not going to jeopardize that standard of living for ANY ideology or any president!!!

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), February 24, 2000.

There's an old saying in financial circles: If you owe a man $10,000, he has you by the short hairs.

If you owe a man $1,000,000, you have him by the short hairs. Seems to apply here.

-- Nom (nom@de.plume), February 24, 2000.

Yeah, they should have the honesty to just come out and say "Give us all your money and resources or we'll crush you like bugs," just like Western European countries and the USA.

Well, OK, to be honest, now it's more like "We believe in free trade. By that, we mean that we're free to set any quotas and prices we want. Or we'll crush you like bugs."

-- _ (_@_._), February 24, 2000.